February 28, 2011 --- New Area

*washes hands*
thats funny you said say that, because here in argentina that is a reference to pontius pilate, and there is a fun little hand action, where you wash your hands of a situacion. =P
but anyways. I hope Dillon gets better, TB is a pretty bad one.

Well in the way of stuff... My camera should be coming to me on sunday-ish, so I will have to take money out for that. Its 300 as far as I know. other than that, despite my best efforts, I still have not managed to make it through a month with money. I spend right up to the cents. Its not for lack of trying, I really do. I am going to keep more track, and make sure to follow up on any debts that exist (from me, or to me) I ended up paying this week for two areas, because the elders from Guiñazu didnt have any way to get to their area, and we decided to work together. Its been an interesting week. I was with Elder Loader, and we worked a ton, and helped a family make another step to coming back to church. I finally got to work with Elder Ferrin, but because there was nowhere for them to go, they came and helped us with an activity on Saturday. We took the chapel and made a crazy obstacle course, with blindfolds, and we taught them to follow the Spirit, but not just the first voice they hear. They learned quite well their lesson, and they really appreciated it. I really like seeing a bit of sucess there at the end.

yeah thats right, the end. I have left Parque Liceo, and now I am in Chilecito in La Rioja. I am 500 KM from where I last was. It was a ridiculous trip last night from 11:30 to 6:30!!! I am now the farthest away I can be sent. Its sometimes known as exile, but we are gonna take that to our advantage and change everyones minds. Its fun sometimes to have a fresh start, and a new assignment. Look up Chilecito on Google. its beautiful. I havent been out to the mountains in a long time. I am really enjoying the view from all sides of the mountains. when my camera gets to me I will take tons of pictures to show you what I mean.

Right now I am just really tired, it was a long night and a long trip, and now I get to go work until 10 tonight. Here in La rioja they truly have the siesta, so they moved our schedule a bit so we can adapt to it. Its gonna be an interesting bit of time here in Chilecito. I plan on enjoying it to its fullest, and drinking down every last drop of experience I can gain here.

Well My new comp is Elder Castillo, hes from Peru (born) but his dad joined the church when he went and worked in Japan on construction, and came back and took his family to Argentina to improve things for them where they joined the church. What mission did Uncle Matt serve in, he says his dad was in and around Okinawa, Osaka, Tokyo around 1992, 93, 94 where he discovered the church. I dont think so, but it would be interesting if they had run into each other. He says his dad has pictures with those first two missionaries. Small World? i dont know yet, but we shall see.

I know the church is true. I know that we have prophets today, and by following their guidance, and the guidance of those that they call to this work, we can get closer to our Heavenly Father. I know that Jesus Christ, is our Savior and Redeemer. Its a simple statement, but its the very core of this Gospel. I know that by doing everything in our power to serve Him, and to listen to His Prophets, we can see each other again after this life, and have an eternal family. He loves us, and we need to love Him with all our heart might mind and strength. I am trying but I still fall short, I hope that you too can try a little bit more.

ummmm thats about it for now. I hope all is well at home.
Con amor
Elder Ben

February 21, 2011

Yeah.. the book fair is great, keep a look out for the new Percy Jackson books, and an author named Brandon Sanderson (you would like his stuff its a bit more high level) These were suggestions from Elder Loader. Apparently Bro. Sanderson teaches the creative writing class at BYU. One of his series is called Mystborn. anyways.
Yeah ill probably come and help you out in the primary when I am back. =P

Snow is exciting news. =P We are done pooping. Everything is good and regular =P

Im sorry allow me to clarify that. I traveled to a different area. Its an area about 60 kilometers to the north. They are a small city named get this JESUS MARY. *sigh*

There was an elder that was comps with my comp, so they did and exchange, and I went with my comp to drop him off, and came back with my "comp" for the day. We do service even within the zone.

yeah Elder Grumpy [Ben is referring to himself] is doing a ton better. He just had a "click" moment and now he is working a ton and smiling and cracking jokes. Its kind of off putting. Oh well. He´s doing better and thats all that matters.

Yeah thats about it for responses. on to the what happened this week...
So this week, was....*drumroll* Actually pretty good. We had a great district meeting about changing up how we do things, so that we dont fall into one of those routines, and then friday we had a great chance to talk with Pres Salas as a zone and he gave us all some new instructions and stuff. It was a good refresher. Sometimes we need someone else to give us the perfect word instead of the other way around. None the less. Saturday was still kind of a rough day for Elder Ferrin and I. We just couldnt get the right rhythm. So we tried to enjoy the day despite some hard rejections. We had a woman answer the door, I stuck my hand out to shake her hand, asking her how she was doing and she responded: "I am NOT from your religion, so get back." I normally would have been a bit more forceful and tried to figure out why, but she just honestly scared the crap out of me, so I walked away mumbling an apology. then lunch cancelled on us, then we got headed back to get food from where we were. i was kind of down. But then this big truck(we are walking along the main highway the part that goes through town) starts honking furiously and waving at us. Great Im thinking more people who are gonna yell at me. Then the woman in the front seat takes out a Book of Mormon and waves at us and just smiles real big. I smiled and waved as well. It was way funny and perfectly timed. Then later we went and saw a part member family. The hermana was telling us how her son (hes 4) knows us as "inthenameofJesusChristAmen" So he saw us on Monday. I was carrying a plant that we picked up for the pension because it just needed a little more ambiance, and they passed on their moto. so he says to his mom MAAAMMMAAAA "inthenameofJesusChristAmen" and pointed at us... We had no idea but it was way funny. Yeah. As far as other random events, it was pretty much stuff that would frustrate me and stupid dramatic members. We are seeing progress from a lot of them though. =) *thumbs up*

Ok so thats about it for the week. Short, but not much to write about and this from the guy who kept track. So I will talk to you next week.

Conclusions: Food is fine, I will wash my hands. and my health is fine.
Con Amor
Elder Ben

February 7, 2011

So this week was interesting! We had a great start. I started the week by forgetting to send in the paperwork that comes after having a baptism. So I spent tuesday running about getting signatures and information for the baptism that had already happened. then Wednesday we had district meeting and lunch with E's Loader and Goggins with members in my branch. Well all four of us within about a half hour were in the pension with sudden unexpected and explosive diarrhea. *thumbs up* .... yeah it was fun. but we got a few fun calls in that time. Our district decided to just stop working. there are only two companionships so we were pooping and they just had stopped. One of the elders had a mood swing in a bad way and we got calls of "hey hey hes broken, get me a new one ASAP" The zone leaders took care of it, but yeah kind of unfortunate. Then Thursday we were all set to go help Guiñazu, when we get a call from our district. Emergency exchanges!!! yeah. So my comp disappeared for 3 days and I was in my area for 3 days with Elder Trujillo (the really cool colombian) He came to church even. It was a riot because this elder is not timid in any way shape or form. Definitely a fun time. He just gets to people in a good way. the english word is he relates with them very well. I think... anyways...
So I got my comp back after 3 days and we had some food, planned things out, and he was just so tired he took a 5 hour nap while I cleaned the pension yesterday. That was my week. wooh.

Other notes. I received cards from:
-Sister Bennett and the seminary class
-Grandma Ludlows Primary Class
-Grandma and Grandpa Staley. YES it came, and YES I needed a U/T to read Pops side.
-Maria Bean and family
-Carl Wutkee
and from
-Carson Smith and a young woman from that ward they are in whose name I dont remember.

Please tell them all thank you so much from me. =) I will do some work and try to respond to as many as I can.

It is quite fun. I have been with just me and my comp for the last 9 months. It gets boring on some days. sometimes you have to talk to someone else other than your comp. Elder Loader was my second comp out in Villa Dolores. He finishes here in April.

Hahaha well tell Dr. Kari about the 20 bears I had to fight off to save my comp from being eaten alive.

Gotta go.
Love you all
Con amor
Elder Ben

January 31, 2011

Yeah really when there is nothing to talk about its because I forgot to write something down during the week. woops. But.... This week I did write stuff down! So we have been working to get a real map done for the area here. Its about 7 large pages (blown up to be wall size) and its colored according to the zones. Now I have that on back burner, as I was also trying to get the apartment ready to move in 2 other elders. They were living in their area, but until the get a new apartment they were stuck with the same two pairs of clothes and washing one and wearing the other each day, and not being able to study, because they had no desk. So we checked out the situation in ours and moved all of our stuff into one room and we then lost almost a day bringing them in and repairing the pension (the mission did a lot of that, but still you have to be there for repairmen) then waited for them to come, and moved them in and well now we have 4 elders in our apartment. Really its to do two things. One to show that we can actually have 4 here because we desperately need 2 more elders here. and to help out a friend (Elder Loader) who was stuck in the way too small apartment, but now is here. Good news is that on some days (since there is very little to be done in their area) they help us. Sweet.
Wednesday I did an intercambio (exchange/division) with an elder who has 2 transfers in the mission and 15 baptisms!!!! His name is Elder Trujillo and he is from Colombia. He is super cool and is just full of excitement for this work and love for the people. Its contagious. He also told some great stories about how his uncle is involved in the cocaine industry and how its all done and stuff along with the guerrilla war. Colombia is pretty messed up. Hey Sarah which mission did Chad serve in? I kinda wonder if he met this elder before.

And then on friday we did a splash with the zone leaders and we found about 15 people in a day. Thats easier with 4 elders. and it shows how much work is available to get done. in the area. Way fun... hhahaha.

Ok so that was the general activity of the week. oh and getting Elsa baptized. Tuesday we went by to see if we could give her one last shot to get ready for her interview. She was more than ready. We taught her about President Monson, and that was all she was missing. Everything else she had learned from reading and praying and coming to church. She had seemed like someone that learns very slow and doesnt understand. Well she just absorbs everything and then doesnt know how to spit it back in the moment. So we asked her the baptismal questions and she had the answers. It was great. I baptized her yesterday just after Stake Conference, with the stake president, and President Salas present. It was great as they (the presidents) bore their testimonies afterward.

Also we decided that my comp is Gilligan of Gilligans Island, and that I am the Skipper. He is just a little ball of fluff and happiness. He is optimism, and gets really excited about little things (like the map) Its just funny because I am grumpy and bossy sometimes.
Other than that I got to have my interview with President after the baptism. Its great to be able to talk with him. He is there to help us and well it was to saw the least enlightening. I will let you know the results of how that works out next week or later. Really this week just makes me feel content with the work I am doing. I have tons to do and no time to do it, and its just insane. Im going and doing.

Well Im out until next week. =)

Con Amor
Elder Ben